A Proposal of Sorts
by Aria Taylor
Summary: Winter and Jacin arrive in England and Jacin's got a few surprises up his sleeve. Jacinter. Oneshot.
**Disclaimer: All TLC characters belong to Marissa Meyer.**

Winter reached her hand out, jumping when she felt the sharp cold of the snowflake hit her exposed palm. She stared, mesmerized as the tiny crystal melted into nothing in just a mere second.

"You know," Jacin said from beside her, "if you put on your gloves, it wouldn't be so cold."

Winter shook her head adamantly. "No," she replied. "I want to get the whole experience." She giggled quietly as another snowflake hit her palm. It stood out against her chocolate skin and she thought it was beautiful.

They had just arrived in England, instructed by Cinder to meet with the prime minister. The meeting wasn't until tomorrow, but, in their usual fashion, Jacin and Winter had arrived a day early in order to explore the city. And even though they had just landed, Winter already found England absolutely amazing.

And the _snow_. Winter had never encountered snow before.

"Jacin," Winter implored, "have you ever seen snow before?"

Jacin shook his head. "No," he answered, looking up and scowling at the sky. "Though I don't see what's so special about it. It's cold and wet. Absolutely miserable."

Winter rolled her eyes. "Said in the typical Jacin Clay fashion."

Jacin just grunted and placed a gloved hand on her back, leading her forward towards the car that would take them to their hotel. It was a five-star hotel, Jacin had told her, one of the finest and most beautiful in the entire country. It supposedly had a gorgeous garden that Jacin promised would remind her of the menagerie, her happy place. It was true that Winter loved the menagerie, but it was for a much different reason than Jacin thought – one that made her whole body hot every time she thought about it.

"It's so beautiful, though," Winter said pensively. "Don't you think winter's beautiful?"

There was a pause before Jacin replied, "Sort of. You know, on a good day." Winter turned to meet his teasing gaze and she laughed, bumping her shoulder against his. "Stop being such a flirt," she teased, climbing into the car.

Jacin smirked, climbing in after her. "Alright. But you asked for it."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Winter burst into a fit of giggles when she saw the hotel that Jacin had chosen.

" _The Menagerie_?" she teased. "Really?"

Jacin rolled his eyes at her hysterics, though the faint pink that colored his cheeks gave away his true emotions. "I thought you would like it," he argued half-heartedly. "You know, maybe bring back some memories."

Winter grew quiet, throwing his a sideways glance, which he didn't meet. He couldn't possibly . . . no. He wasn't referring to their kiss. Surely that wasn't a good memory for him. Stars, he's been ordered to kill her then. That kiss probably meant nothing to him but a heartfelt goodbye between best friends. He was probably referring to all of the others memories that she had of the menagerie on Luna, all of the games they had played and the animals that had been inside.

The car pulled up to the front door and Jacin quickly hopped out, helping Winter climb out as well. She wasn't shocked to see that practically the entire staff was standing by the door, waiting to welcome her, along with quite a few guests. Winter smiled politely and waved, not being to help but feel like she was in an old movie where the entire house staff stood outside the front door to greet the nobility that had come to visit. The people grinned from ear to ear when she sent a smile in their direction of waved at them.

It was ironic, Winter thought, that when she was actually a princess on Luna, she hadn't felt like a princess. She'd felt like a prisoner, trapped inside the bleeding walls of the castle, chained with the shackles of insanity. She'd been tortured by Levana and treated like some sort of convict when she'd done nothing wrong. Yet now, when she was no longer a princess, she was treated like one. She'd given out countless autographs and taken hundreds of pictures with little children in the park, on the street, at parties. She'd even been given a few flower crowns and she reveled in the fact that it was no longer dangerous to wear them.

She felt Jacin's hand on the small of her back, sending electricity coursing through her. He gently led her forward through the mass. The people parted like the Red Sea for her and she smiled at everyone gratefully. When they arrived inside the lobby, Jacin informed her that he would go check them in and to wait right there. She nodded, only half hearing him and completely entranced by the decorum.

It was, indeed, a five-star hotel. The lobby looked just as gorgeous as the palace in Artemisia. The walls were golden and shined in the light, giving off a cool shimmering appeal. It was garden themed, of course, so there were plants and flowers everywhere. Twin trees were placed all across the room, trimmed to perfection. Vases sat on all of the surfaces, holding various bouquets of a variety of flowers. Winter saw tulips, daisies, violets, roses, sunflowers, and many others that she couldn't name. On her left was the check-in counter, where Jacin spoke to a man dressed in a tuxedo. On her right was a sitting area with four or so blush pink satin couches. A few people were sitting there, all of them trying to be subtle as they snuck glances towards Winter. She smiled when she caught one's eye.

She sighed and bit her lip, glancing ahead of her. She assumed that there would be an elevator or a fancy staircase, but instead she saw a pair of glass doors that lead out to what looked like a garden. Winter cocked her head to the side and strode over to the door, pushing through them and entering into the garden.

It was absolutely beautiful. To be honest, Winter hadn't been sure what to think when Jacin had informed her that the hotel had a menagerie. Even though it had been her favorite place in the palace, she wasn't too keen on the idea of keeping wild animals locked up. But this menagerie was huge, acting as the center of the hotel. There were only a few cages and all of them were plenty large enough to act as living quarters for the animals. A few of the cages held exotic birds, who flew around and put on quite a show for their admirers. Winter saw one that held a couple wolf cubs, but they looked tame and desperate for attention. A couple of guests were even reaching their hand inside and petting the animals, scratching behind their ears and on their noses.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Winter jumped, startled, only to realize that it was Jacin who had snuck up on her. She let out a small sigh of relief and then nodded in agreement.

"You were right," she told him. "It does remind me of home. In a good way, of course."

"I'm glad you like it." Jacin was practically beaming, like winning her approval of a hotel was better than being crowned king. He slipped his hand into hers and Winter tried not to look too startled. Public displays of affection was placed high on Jacin's list of Things We Don't Do, right up there along with kicking puppies and genocide. "Come on. Let's go get settled in."

"And then we can explore?" Winter asked hopefully.

Jacin looked at her a cracked a goofy half-grin. "And then we can explore," he agreed.

It took them all of ten minutes to get their luggage up to the room, claim their respective beds, and then get back downstairs. Winter could have been done in two minutes, but Jacin had taken forever, insisting that he change into something more suitable for exploring England and then fixing his hair. Jacin was more of a girl than Winter was sometimes, it seemed.

They wandered the streets, hand in hand, and Winter was feeling absolutely blissful for the sole reason of Jacin's hand grasping hers. It warmed her down to her toes and made her feel like she was flying. It was a feeling she would never get used to.

It wasn't that Jacin was never affectionate. He was. It was just that Jacin was never really . . . _straightforward_ about his feelings. Winter knew that he loved her. She saw it in the way he acted towards her, like she was something precious, the last of its kind. But they had been stuck in the roles of the princess and the guard for so long that it seemed like Jacin was having a hard time adjusting to the whole thing. Even something as simple as holding hands, Levana could have killed him for, and now that she was dead and he was free to do whatever he wanted with Winter, well, Winter knew that it was a big adjustment for him. A happy adjustment, but a big one. Winter understood and she tried to do whatever she could to encourage him. She teased and flirted with him until his cheeks grew rosy and then she would kiss those cheeks until he turned and stole a kiss from her lips instead. She held his hand during days like these, when they would explore new places together. She would send him secret smiles and exasperated looks during meetings with world leaders. And very slowly, he was warming up to the idea of there no longer being set lines between them, initiating kisses when no one was looking and grabbing her hand before she had the chance to grab his. And Winter would be lying if she said she didn't like it.

It was dark and snowing when they arrived back at the hotel. Winter knew she had snowflakes in her hair and all over her new coat, but she hardly cared. She was finding that she really loved the snow.

Instead of heading up to their room, Jacin pulled Winter into the menagerie. "I have a surprise for you," he told her, leading her to the far end, where a huge cage sat, holding a beautiful albino wolf. A gasp escaped Winter.

"Ryu," she breathed, falling in front of the cage and reaching her hand out. The wolf stared at it for a minute before hesitantly nuzzling it. Winter smiled.

She felt Jacin kneel down next to her. "I knew he would remind you of Ryu," he said. "I know you miss him."

His voice sounded guilty and Winter was quick to reassure him. "I don't blame you for killing him," she said, turning to look at him. "Neither does Ryu. We both know you had to do it to save me. You did the right thing." Winter looked back at the wolf and smiled at him, moving her hand to scratch behind his ear. He breathed out an appreciative breath. She could feel Jacin staring at her and the air between them suddenly felt charged, like the air right before a big storm hit.

"I love you," Jacin said quietly and Winter's eyes tore away from the wolf's and jerked to Jacin's face. Her eyes were wide and his were wide and Winter couldn't move, couldn't _breathe_ because Jacin Clay just told her that he loved her.

"You love me?" Winter breathed out, her voice wavering. She felt like her entire body was trembling and she would fall over any second.

Jacin nodded. "Yes," he declared. "I love you, Winter. I love you and I . . ." He faltered, staring at her face before jerking his eyes away and saying to the ground, "I want to marry you, Winter. I don't care when and I don't care how. I just know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you because I am in love with you. I always have been and I always will be."

Winter let out a small, disbelieving laugh, her eyes watering. "Is this a proposal, Jacin Clay?" she teased.

A bark of laughter escaped Jacin's lips. "Stars, Winter, what else would it be?"

Winter smiled wider than she ever had and threw herself at him, burying her face in his chest. Jacin let out a surprised grunt before wrapping his arms around her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and then resting his chin there. They stayed there for a second before Winter pulled away and raised an eyebrow. "Does this mean I can kiss you whenever I want now?" she asked.

"You always _did_ kiss me whenever you wanted."

"Not true," Winter argued, but Jacin was already bringing his mouth down to hers, kissing her like he had in the menagerie all that time ago – passionately, recklessly, like he couldn't get enough of her. Winter melted into him and kissed him back like they were running out of time, but she knew. They both knew.

They had all the time in the world.

 **And there you go! I absolutely adore Jacinter and after I read Stars Above, I just needed more of them. Review please!**

 **"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom." James 3:13 NIV**


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